Quick Thoughts Before Nats Opening Day

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Baseball is back.  Or it’s about to be, anyway.

At 1:05 PM tomorrow at Nationals Park, Max Scherzer takes the mound and ushers in baseball in D.C. for the 2019 season against divisional foe New York.  It’s a beautiful thing, folks.  Breathe it in deep.

There’s uncharted territory ahead of the Nationals as the de facto face of the club has taken his talents (and hair product) up north to Philadelphia.  However you feel about Bryce Harper, his legacy in DC, the way he endeared -or didn’t endear himself- to the fans in the nation’s capital, matter not.  It’s a different era for the Nationals and the roster, in terms of eye test, appears flush with potential for a new superstar to inherit the mantle that No. 34 left behind.

Photo: Keith Allison [CC BY-SA 2.0]. via Flickr

Scherzer, it’s fair to say, isn’t human. Or he’s at least sort of human and there’s no anticipated drop-off in his game, especially with a bullpen backing him up consisting of Stephen Strasburg and recent and significant additions Patrick Corbin and Anibal Sanchez.  It feels good to say, at least at the very beginning of a long season, that I’m not worried about the rotation.

Similarly, I’m not worried about the outfield.  Adam Eaton, thankfully knocks loudly on wood is healthy and a healthy Eaton is a very good Eaton.  He’ll be bookended by wunderkinds Juan Soto and Victor Robles.  Soto nabbed second in  NL rookie of the year voting last year and Robles has the tools, both at the plate and out in the lawn, to be transcendent.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to see what happens between those three in the outfield, without even mentioning that Michael A. Taylor — who can do some great things in his own right — will be providing some spark off the bench. And this is where the Bryce Harper vacuum gets closed. 

This team possesses the right balance of young talent and veteran prowess to make noise early and often.  Thankfully, an improved Mets team will provide the Nats a test right out of the gate.  I like that the division might be uniformly good.  I like that in year two, Dave Martinez might feel the pressure. Martinez took a banged up roster to 82 wins last year.  With this roster and a full vote of confidence from both the clubhouse and GM Mike Rizzo, the ceiling looks justifiably higher. 

Tomorrow marks the start of a long season and the journey out from under Bryce Harper’s well-manicured shadow.  Tomorrow marks what could be the trek towards a celebrity appearance in the NLDS.  Tomorrow the Nationals could begin making that leap, and I can’t wait to watch.